Corps Engineers

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), New England District, and the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) have partnered to perform an extensive study of the shoreline in southern Rhode Island. This study, known as the Rhode Island Regional Sediment Management (RSM) Plan, is a multi-year program focused on developing a plan for managing sand as a resource rather than as a waste product. The foundation of this study is numerical modeling which is highly dependent on site specific wave data.
As part of this study, a significant level of data collection, surveying and numerical modeling will be performed. Currently deployed wave buoys do not provide the wave data that is necessary to conduct this study. Therefore, it was decided to acquire and deploy a new directional wave buoy. The buoy measures both wave height and direction. The New England District and the Corps' Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) have partnered with Scripps Oceanographic Institute Coastal Data Information Program (CDIP) to facilitate the buoy purchase, deployment and data processing. The New England District will be primarily responsible for buoy maintenance and retrieval should it be necessary. Ship time for buoy placement is provided by Dr. John King of the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography.

Independent review of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' studies can help prevent the construction of more ecologically destructive and fiscally wasteful water projects, according to testimony delivered
by American Rivers to the House of Representatives. The House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment examined the use of peer review to ensure scientifically and economically sound decision-making at the Corps and other federal agencies.

Bayou La Batre, Alabama - Horizon Shipbuilding Inc. has delivered the M/V General Irwin, an inland river towboat, to the Army Corps of Engineers in Eufala, Alabama.
The General Irwin is equipped with two steering rudders and four flanking rudders, and is powered by two Caterpillar diesel engines, providing 770 horsepower to her 48-inch propellers. Her hull speed when towing is four knots; her full speed is eight knots.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) with regard to a proposal for a doubling of the dock space at an oil refinery on Puget Sound. The refinery had one dock that it utilized for both offloading crude oil from tankers and loading refined product. The refinery sought a permit from the Corps to build a second dock so that the two functions could be performed separately

The US Army Corps of Engineers issued a notice stating that it intends to prepare a draft environmental impact statement for the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MRGO) Navigation Project for bank stabilization. Comments should be submitted by January 4, 2007. 71 Fed. Reg. 7449
source: HK Law

The Port of Houston Authority Commissioners voted recently to appeal the U.S. District Court's January 25 ruling that the Port should pay for the removal and relocation of pipelines to accommodate the widening and deepening of the Houston Ship Channel.
"We believe Congress clearly specified in 1996 that pipeline owners, not the taxpayers of Harris County, should pay for the removal and relocation of pipelines needed to widen and deepen the Ship Channel," said Port Chairman James T. Edmonds

More than 33 oil spills from nine dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers have prompted the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) to take enforcement action against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Ecology issued a notice of violation today that lists the state oil spill and clean-water laws that have been violated. It also cites the Corps for insufficiently training and preparing staff to respond to oil spills

The Coast Guard has made a change in the Fort Pierce Inlet safety zone Thursday afternoon.
Recreational vessels with less than six-foot draft are now allowed to transit through the Fort Pierce Inlet safety zone upon receiving clearance from the on-scene representative.

Infrastructure Projects: Perhaps Not So Quixotic After All?
Over the course of 2014, significant steps forward were taken in the quest to find additional sources of funding for inland waterways infrastructure projects.
First came the long awaited and much-celebrated Water Resources

The maritime sector, including, ports, shipping industry and merchant navy in India is expecting the government would allocate a substantial amount of provisions and sops in the forthcoming union budget.
Indian Shipping Industry has the potential to ignite growth

General Dynamics NASSCO christened the U.S. Navy’s newest ship, the USNS Lewis B. Puller (MLP-3 AFSB), on Saturday during a christening ceremony held at the San Diego builder’s shipyard.
This third Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) is the first ship of the class to be configured

Department of Navy leaders at the Naval Future Force Science and Technology (S&T) EXPO in Washington D.C., February 5 called for investment in new ideas and scientific research to keep the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps technologically superior in increasingly uncertain times.

There are 192 locks on 12,000 miles of American rivers, and most have lived far beyond their life expectancy, the NY Times reported last week.
The Times reported that the Army Corps of Engineers estimate it will take $13 billion through 2020 just to fix the decaying locks

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Jonathan Greenert outlined his thoughts Feb. 4 on three science and technology objectives for the Navy and Marine Corps of the future, at the Naval Future Force Science and Technology (S&T) EXPO in Washington, D.C.

Waterways Council, Inc., a national advocacy group for ports and inland waterways, expressed "disappointment" today in the Obama administration's proposed FY 2016 budget.
“Given recent austere budget proposals for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Port Manatee and its stakeholders look to benefit from full federal funding of a feasibility study related to deepening of its channel and harbor area, the port said.
Manatee Harbor, near the Gulf of Mexico entrance to Tampa Bay, is one of only 10 waterways in the continental United States

The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), the recognized and authoritative voice of the seaport industry, yesterday noted some positive aspects but mostly disappointment over the funding levels and programmatic changes in federal port-related programs that were proposed today in

The South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) FY 2016 budget contained approximately $20 million for strategic South Carolina port projects, including critical operations and maintenance dollars and construction dollars that support Charleston's vital shipping channels

For the first time ever, the general public will be admitted free to the Naval Future Force Science and Technology EXPO general exhibit hall Feb. 4-5 where they will be able to see the Electromagnetic Railgun, an autonomous swarmboat, a firefighting robot and much more.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Buffalo District has awarded a repair contract to Great Lakes Shipyard for two tugs and two barges from the Corps’ Cleveland Field Station.
The shipyard said it has been contracted to perform drydocking

The South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) reported that container business rose 12 percent in 2014, a year highlighted by strong volume growth and substantial forward progress on the harbor deepening project.
In December the port handled 141,956 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs)

U.S. Coast Guard and Marine Corps helicopter crews rescued two people and a dog Sunday from a grounded sailboat near Beaufort.
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector North Carolina in Wilmington received a call at approximately 11:50 a.m. from the operator of the 22-foot sailboat Serendipity who